1. Which weapon would you prefer to have when someone breaks into your house at night?

2. You have just confronted an intruder in your home at night and realize they are holding a pistol. Do you still prefer the weapon you selected in question #1?

1.) I'd take the bat over the knife if only offered the two. A knife is more difficult to use in a non-lethal fashion and you're going to have quite a bit of trouble explaining to a plaintiff's attorney in a civil trial why you carved up his client like a Thanksgiving turkey. A civil trial is almost an inevitability in America's overly litigious society. Bludgeoning (generally) can be spun as friendlier by a good defense attorney, afterall, the bat's just for your company softball games, right?. A knife has only one real purpose in the eyes of a jury (because juries are composed of dipshits).

2.) If he has a pistol, I'm in a whole fuckload of trouble regardless of what I picked in question #1.

1. I think I would pick one of my sticks. I have them placed all over the house. They will be easier to find in the middle of the night, especially if I know the person broke in and I want the element of surprise. Plus I have two kids and can't leave knives laying around the house.

2. Against a gun, I think it's a toss up. I like a knife normally if the gun isn't drawn. Especially within 20 feet. The stick has range on the gun if I can strike the hand, then the gun is out of play. However, not as leathal as a knife. Which at that point, I'm at the leathal portion of the use of force continuum.

1. I think I would pick one of my sticks. I have them placed all over the house. They will be easier to find in the middle of the night, especially if I know the person broke in and I want the element of surprise. Plus I have two kids and can't leave knives laying around the house.

2. Against a gun, I think it's a toss up. I like a knife normally if the gun isn't drawn. Especially within 20 feet. The stick has range on the gun if I can strike the hand, then the gun is out of play. However, not as leathal as a knife. Which at that point, I'm at the leathal portion of the use of force continuum.

I like your take on #2 in particular.
I don't have kids so i do have some knives (in addition to sticks haha) in easy to access places; night stand, work desk etc. Some are fairly large.
Any firearms are locked up however.

1.) I'd take the bat over the knife if only offered the two. A knife is more difficult to use in a non-lethal fashion and you're going to have quite a bit of trouble explaining to a plaintiff's attorney in a civil trial why you carved up his client like a Thanksgiving turkey. A civil trial is almost an inevitability in America's overly litigious society. Bludgeoning (generally) can be spun as friendlier by a good defense attorney, afterall, the bat's just for your company softball games, right?. A knife has only one real purpose in the eyes of a jury (because juries are composed of dipshits).

1. Which weapon would you prefer to have when someone breaks into your house at night?

A bat. I can stick it under the door handle and go back to sleep. (Though, really, the lock that's already there oughta be enough so... -shrug-)

Though, even if it came to a fight, I'd still prefer the bat. Bat's a lot easier to use than a knife, it's got a lot more force behind it and you can keep them further away.

Flailing away at someone with a knife can **** them up, but they can still do you a lot of damage while you're at it. It's possible to kill someone quickly with a knife - and the larger the knife, generally, the easier it is. But it's gonna look real bad if you go all machete massacre on the guy. I can just imagine the look on the policeman's face when he gets into your house and finds claret all over the place and the guy looking like someone's done a poor job of butchering a hog.

You hit someone with a bat a couple of times, even if they block it, they're pretty much done. What're they gonna do? Feel you up with their broken arms? Lot easier to brain a guy with too.

Originally Posted by SteveM

2. You have just confronted an intruder in your home at night and realize they are holding a pistol. Do you still prefer the weapon you selected in question #1?

Well my kids sleep in a different end of the house than me, so if an intruder is in the house at night they need confronting. Thankfully in Texas the law provides me the option of using deadly force with no questions asked in this situation, and in Texas this also means by any method available. Bat, knife, pistol, shotgun, or weedeater, it doesn't matter, I'm immune from both criminal and civil actions while using deadly force to defend my family inside our home.

45 states in the US have similar "Stand your ground" or "Castle Doctrine" laws in place. When it comes to defending one's family, fears of civil or criminal prosecution should be the last thing on one's mind. Many states have only recently passed these laws, so if one isn't sure about the laws in their state they should research this topic and reconsider the relative risk of relying on less-than-lethal means of home defense.